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The Real Republicans of Orange County… And Why We Should Defeat Them

by • June 2, 2008

“Typically in Republican primaries and typically in Orange County, the candidates are going to be pretty close together philosophically, so it makes it more challenging to indicate differences between the candidates that can convince voters they should vote for you and not the other guy.”

I was surprised to discover this morning that some LA paper that used to cover OC news actually ran a story about us over the weekend. Well, it wasn’t really about us… Rather, they were talking about how OC Republicans are ripping each other’s hair out in brutal primary wars for several legislative seats because they’re confident they have nothing to fear from Democrats in the fall.

I must admit that this was a bittersweet article to read. While it’s easy for me to laugh my you-know-what off over GOPers arguing over who’s more homophobic, more anti-immigrant, more fiscally irresponsible, and more anti-environment, it still frustrates me how they can engage in these ugly fights while still taking the county’s voters for granted. Why should we let the GOP get away with this?Ã‚Â Ã‚Â Ã‚Â Ã‚Â Ã‚Â Ã‚Â Ã‚Â Ã‚Â Ã‚Â Ã‚Â Ã‚Â Ã‚Â Ã‚Â Ã‚Â Ã‚Â Ã‚Â Ã‚Â Maybe that LA paper likes to assume that OC will forever be a Republican bastion where the OC GOP only fights in primaries, but that doesn’t mean we have to. We can’t just let Mimi Walters and Harry Sidhu and Bob Huff and Dennis Mountjoy and Jeff Miller and Neil Blais and all the other GOP candidates assume that all the voters here appreciate their far-right rhetoric. This is why we need to support our local Democratic candidates this fall, and why we shouldn’t stop fighting in these districts until we start winning them.

It will be nice one day to log onto that LA paper’s web site to read a different kind if OC story, not the same old conventional wisdom. Yes, it will be nice when I can read something new, something about OC Democrats tearing down “The Orange Curtain” once and for all as the GOP no longer feels so complacent. Wouldn’t that be nice? I think so.